fredag 27. desember 2013

AMX (AIS041)

In an effort to minimise future conflicts in the Middle East, the major powers set up an arms embargo after the 1948 war. However, when the Suez Crisis came to a head, France hastily equipped their new ally, Israel, with up-gunned Sherman tanks and brand-new AMX-13 light tanks.

The AMX also known as the AMX-13 mounts a gun as powerful as that of the Panther tank; they achieved this feat with a radical oscillating-turret design. The gun was fixed to the top half of the turret allowing a twelve-round autoloader to feed directly into the rear of the gun. The whole top half of the turret rocked back and forward on the bottom half elevating and depressing the whole weapon system.

While this removed a crew member and made the turret extremely small, it did have drawbacks. The autoloader was slower than a human loader, and once the twelve ready rounds were used, the tank had to retire out of range while the crew spent 15 minutes or more out of the tank reloading it. Combined with its light protection, this led to the AMX being relegated to reconnaissance roles in the 1967 war.

Designed by Tim AdcockPainted by Chris Townley

The AMX in Fate Of A Nation

Armour

Name

Mobility

Front

Side

Top

Equipment and Notes

Weapon

Range

ROF

Anti-tank

Firepower

AMX

Light Tank

4

2

1

Co-ax MG, Protected ammo.

75-CN-50 gun

32"/80cm

1

14

3+

Autoloader.

Protected AmmoMany tanks are destroyed not by the enemy shell but by their own ammunition being hit by white-hot fragments of armour and exploding. The chances of this were minimised by providing a safe place for stowing ammunition within the vehicle such as an armoured compartment or inside a water-filled jacket.

If forced to bail out, crews of tanks with protected ammunition are far more confident when it comes to remounting their vehicle quickly.

Tanks with Protected Ammo re-roll all failed Motivation Tests to Remount Bailed Out vehicles in the Starting Step (see page 102 of the main rulebook).

AutoloaderThe French AMX-13 had an automatic loader allowing the gunner to fire twelve shots before reloading the gun (a process requiring the crew to dismount and taking 15 minutes or more). It wasn’t as quick-firing as a crew member loading the gun, but it did allow a very small tank to mount a powerful gun in a small, light turret.

AMX tanks do not suffer any penalty To Hit while moving and may re-roll failed rolls To Hit if they did not move in the Movement Step.